"A Perfect Dancer…
"Hema Rajagopalan is a Bharata Natyam dancer, teacher, and choreographer of international repute. She began learning the dance at age six, and her mentors are Padmashree K.N. Dandayudapani Pillai and Padma Bhushan Kalanidhi Narayanan both amongst the foremost figures in Bharata Natyam. National recognition of her artistic and educational work includes seven dance choreography awards from the National Endowment for the Arts. Ms. Rajagopalan has also received the Vishva Kala Bharati award from the Bharat Kalachar festival in India. Her choreography constituted an integral part of the Emmy-award winning PBS production World Stage Chicago.
Hema is a dynamic and a versatile dancer who has carved a special niche for herself in the field of Bharata Natyam. Her innate sense of rhythm, graceful bearing, subtle facial expression, and appreciation of the arts are some of the qualities that give a new dimension to Bharata Natyam, making her on of the finest exponents of this dance style.
Hema has performed extensively throughout the world. Her performances contribute greatly to the esoteric dance understood and appreciated more widely.
"Hema once danced as a mendicant princess…all soul, few trappings, yet she showed a dazzling degree of plastique…rising to the challenge of the art’s intricate rhythm, she danced with the urgency of action that implied on empowering spiritual need. Physical brilliance and inner depth were ideally matched in her performance…On and off the altar, Rajagopalan ruled."
Molly Mcquade -Dance Magazine
"Her dance was marked by impeccable line and stance….technical finess that speaks of long and dedicated training."
Leela Venkatraman
"Great performances like Rajagopalan’s speak to both the connoisseur and the uninitiated…newcomers to Bharata Natyam encountered a universe of vibrant, highly expressive dance, more knowledgeable viewers saw a artist in complete control of her highly codified craft."
Wynne Delacoma -The Chicago Times
"Hema’s performance was sheer magic, bristling with complicated footwork and superb mime."
The Morning Star -London
"Tillana was a remarkable piece – here she gave a convincing proof that dance is moving sculpture while sculpture is moving dance"
V.V. Prasad -Hindustan Times
"To watch Hema R. bring her art to life is to be transported to a faraway time and place. She begins to move, fluidly expressing each word of the lyrics and suddenly you are in an exotic garden…"
The Chicago Tribune
"One of our best Bharata Natyam dancers settled abroad."
Financial Express -New Delhi
"An excellent performance…There are many reasons for the Sparkling Success...She took to dance from her childhood and never turned back."
Subbudu -The Statesman, New Delhi
"Hema has a high degree of scholastic achievement and has made a deep study of the science of dance…as was evident from her performances. Deep involvement in the moods of the compositions….Her expositions of the popular Varnam "mohamanna" in Bhairavi left the audience in a no doubts regarding her remarkable gifts of mime and rhythmic control…"
T.S. Parthasarathy